ToonSchool: Revolution Wars SS: Rookie Quest
by RunnerAwaker
Summary: When her boyfriend is busy with his exam in real life, Mira has to deal with the new dungeon by herself. However, she is not alone when she meets a new rookie as they tangled with a new threat in SRO.
1. Calm Before the Storm

_A/N: Hiya readers! As many of you know RW is on hiatus until the new year. But in the meantime you can enjoy this mini-sequel side-story I've come up with in the meantime._**  
**

_This is set place a few months before Revolution Wars and it features Mira as its main character along with a new one, which I know you guys will find interesting to know her. Also, this is an original story made by me!  
_

_So read, review, and have a Happy New Year! Time to start this side story with Chapter 1!  
_

_Disclaimer: The OCs appearing in this fic and SRO belong to me! And the surprise characters appearing belong to their respective owners!  
_

**ToonSchool Revolution Wars SS: Rookie Quest**

**Calm Before the Storm**

At her virtual home in Salvus, newly-named Rare Item Hunter avatar named Mira is typing into her holographic journal window as she relaxes on her bed.

_"Alone can be such a drag, especially if your special loved one isn't around to aid you in a special time of the month. It reminds me of me being sick of flu, missing out of my family reunion or a date. As for me, that special day is actually a special quest in an online game I'm playing called Soul Resonance Online and my special loved one is not only my boyfriend in real-life, but he's also my partner."_

As she types on her journal, she saw some screenshots in form of photos of her and her boyfriend's avatar, Jiraya on her wall.

_"My name is Maria Rizal or as of right now, I'm called Mira in this game. I'm a Filipino who is currently dating my friend and partner, Jay Santos. In here, he is known as Jiraya in the game. Together with Jiraya, we are known as Rare Item Hunters in the game, which like our titles said, we hunt rare items for a living. But unlike some Rare Item Hunters who prefer selling them for profit, we rather use them or give them away rather than selling them. And also, we became Hunters because it's fun trying to find new discoveries through new rare items we found in every quest. And best of all, we're doing it together as a couple."_

Then she looks at her new rare item sitting on her bed near her, which it looks like a sun, only it was cut in half and it's other half is nowhere to be found.

_"However, the recent quest I took a few days ago is the only quest that Jiraya didn't come along with me. Like I said, alone can be a drag, especially with some bullies and hunters want to take advantage with your loneliness."_

After seeing the half sun pendant, she pulls out another window while typing, which is a friend list containing a star marked friend other than Jiraya's.

_"But on that same day, I met a newbie that I defended from the bullies. On our meeting, I made an accident I formerly regret. And that accident became a new friendship. To start off, it begins with a very bad news..."_

* * *

_A few days earlier..._

"SAY WHAT?!"

Mira is shocked at what her boyfriend told her as she sat back on the sofa in her living room.

_"I know that there's a special rare item quest announced, but I still need to study for the English exam tomorrow," _Jiraya said on her SoulCom. Despite his inability to speak English in real life, he was able to speak it without a problem in SRO thanks to its universal translator. _"If I flunk on the test, I have a risk to not able to go to SM: Mall of Asia with you this summer."_

"I know. It's just that, it might be never the same without you in this quest," Mira said in dismay, wanting to go on the announced quest with him, but still want him to pass his exam.

_"Don't worry, Mira, you're a great player. Although we became Rare Item Hunters together, you were able to become a Blade Magi without my help. I'm sure you'll do just fine without me."_

"I don't know," Mira said, still unsure about this.

_"Again, don't worry! Besides, I'm looking forward for that new movie in the IMAX theater, Stormfall!" _Jiraya said in glee, couldn't contain his excitement for it.

"Yeah, yeah. I promise we'll see that movie this summer," Mira said, seeing he has a point, "Alright, I'll do it. I'll get that rare item while you study for the test tomorrow."

_"Thanks, Mira. Wish me luck for the test," _Jiraya said before he hangs up.

"Same for me, Jay," Mira said as she turns off her SoulCom, which she quickly sighed in dismay after that. "If I can do it by myself..."

* * *

At Inceptem, one of the main cities of SRO's in-game world, Lumen, Mira is sitting at the bench in the town square as she watched some couples holding hands and having a picnic together after a quest, disappointed that her boyfriend is not around to be with her for once.

She groans at this and says, "It wouldn't be the same without you, Jiraya. I just hope you can pass the exam with flying colors."

As she continues to stare at the couples, she heard a load shriek not far away from where she is, startling her and pulls out her sword in panic.

"Huh? What was that?" she asks when she hears the same scream, which she somehow able to trace the source of it. "It's coming from the entertainment streets of Inceptum! Figures, those creeps were able to take advantage of those streets' empty sidewalks in the morning to bully someone."

She then heads off to the entertainment section of the city in determination.

"Just hope that I'm not too late!"

* * *

At the sidewalk between some arcades and a karaoke bar, a girl was being harassed by some bully avatars, who is trying to run away from them, but failed.

"Hey, come on now, cutie. Why don't we make some trouble and do something together?" one of the avatars said to the frightened girl.

"You can't treat a woman like this! I'm going to report to the authorities for this!" the girl, whose voice is a little mature, said in fear.

"I don't think that's going to happen. This game has no police or anything and also, we have higher levels than you, girly!" another avatar with a beanie said.

"Plus, we only want to teach you more about the game if you want," the one with a bandana added, "No extra charge, as long as you hang out with us."

However, the girl still refused, not wanting the bullies to take advantage of her.

"I don't think so. Look, I'm only playing this game to find somebody and give him a piece of my mind about it!"

"Well, you can always find your boyfriend with us," the leader suggested, "If you can agree to let us hang out with you."

Before he gets closer to the girl, a magical blast suddenly hits him, blasting him onto a statue.

"What the?!"

As the dust clears, it revealed that Mira is the one who made that magical blast as she walks through the smoke with her trusty sword.

"Hey, you jerks! You heard what the lady said; she doesn't want your help."

"Drat!"

"It's her!"

"What? What's so scary about a pink and glittered fashion-crazy girl with a sword?" the leader asks in confusion.

"Don't you know her? She's one of the new Rare Item Hunters," the avatar with a beanie explained.

"Not only she's a Blade Magi, one of the strongest job class in this game, but she wiped out 50 opponents in every rare item tournament she entered," the other one with a bandana added, "She's the SoulMagi herself, Mira!"

"Glad some of you were able to recognize me so easily," Mira said in an inpressed tone.

Then, the bandana-wearing bully noticed something and asks, "Hey, where's your partner that he's always around you?"

"You mean my boyfriend, Jiraya. He's busy offline right now, so I'm alone for now," Mira explained when she quickly raises her sword to the avatars, "But that doesn't mean I can't take you guys on by myself!"

"Although I don't personally hit girls, I always want to outrank a legend," the bully leader says as he pulls out his two broadswords from out of nowhere, "Alright, SoulMagi! Let's see if you really are a Rare Item Hunter!"

Seeing the leader's swords, the girl became worried about Mira and says, "Y-You can't take him! You'll get killed! I'll call a police or somebody."

But Mira stops her from leaving as she says in determination, "Don't worry about me. It's just a game. Plus, I have experiences when it comes to 'defending newbies from bullies' situations like this."

"But, but-"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing and I promised that I'll keep you safe from them."

Seeing that she's determined to save her from the bully avatars, the girl reluctantly trusts her as she lets her go.

After he whispers something to his companions, the leader rushed to Mira as he tries to attack her with his first broadsword. However, Mira was able jump out of his sword's range in time as she flips in mid-air, much to the girl's awe. But much to her shock, the bull avatar's friends suddenly appeared behind the Blade Magi, which she shouts to her, "Look out! Behind you!"

But this doesn't faze Mira at all, as she puts two fingers on her sword's blade and recites a spell incantation as runes start to appear around her and her sword.

_"Gelus ralu eurus cito moro kari turbo!"_

Completing the incantation, a heavy, but a small snowstorm tornado appeared in Mira's command, blowing the leader's friends away, much to the bully leader and the girl's shock.

When the two bully avatars landed, they became frozen due to the small snowstorm tornado.

"Want to try making that ambush again?" Mira cockingly said to the leader as she prepares to strike again.

Angry at this, he then makes a full strike on Mira with his swords, which she did the same with her sword. The two clash their swords in this intense battle as the girl watches in awe and worry. As they continue to fight against each other, the girl pulls out the +OPTIONS+ window and tries to find the call GM button in order to call someone who can help her and the pink-claded Blade Magi who is defending her. However, she was confused by the window's design, that she instead presses the +PERSONA SHIFT+ tab instead.

Back at the battle, Mira is getting an upper hand as the leader tries to block her multiple attacks with his swords, but was unable to block all of them as he fell down on the ground after she strikes him with her charge attack.

As he tries to get up, Mira points her sword near his face as she asks in a cockingly manner, "Looks like I win. Any last words before I say leave that newbie alone?"

Somehow, the leader starts to smirk, despite his incoming defeat.

"Not likely."

Mira became confused at his smirk, until she felt a small stab at her back. When she turns around, she saw not only that she was struck by a dagger behind, but also saw the leader's friends who were supposed to be frozen due to her spell, were actually behind her all this time. Realizing that she's been tricked, she muttered before she fell, "Y-You jerk!"

Shocked about this turn of events, the girl called out to Mira in worry as the bully avatars gathered around Mira, laughing at her mockingly.

"You are SO predictable! You really think I fell down that easily?!" the leader mockingly said to the fallen veteran, "We knew you're too strong to us to beat you down fairly. So we did the next best thing: cheating! Put in some clones to distract you so my friends are hiding behind you and when you win, paralyzing dagger ambush! The perfect cheat!"

"Man, you've should seen your face! You're shocked face is really funny!" the avatar with the bandana said as he laughs.

"Yeah, looks like the legend has turned into a fallen hero! Talk about priceless!" the one with the beanie added.

"Looks like we'll be the one who will say leave the newbie alone," the leader says with an evil smirk.

"Y-You won't get away with this!" Mira weakly said in anger.

"Oh, we will, SoulMagi. And I think it's time to take your Rare Item Hunter title," the leader says as he prepares his swords for Mira, which shocks her a lot since she's working for that title for so long, learning that under normal circumstances, when she is PKed, her title is lost and the PKer will take that tile, "I always want that title for so long."

"STOP!"

The girl then blocks Mira from the bullies and says, "I won't forgive you if you hurt this young girl!"

"Hey! Who says you're interrupting?" the beanie avatar angrily asks to the girl.

"Yeah, you know what happens when you interrupted!" the bandana avatar put in.

Seeing the girl, Mira weakly says to her, "W-What are you doing? Those guys are dangerous! Get out of here, right now!"

"But I won't leave you here in danger!" the girl tries to reason with her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Mira says, "I should be worrying about you. You can't handle them alone."

"But I won't leave you alone, too!"

She then weakly tries to reach the girl's shoulder as she says, "Listen! You're level 1 and these guys' levels are 20-30. You can't face them alone, I'll handle things from here."

"But you're hurt! I won't leave you like this!" the girl says in worry.

"But nothing! I'm determined to save you from these guys and I won't leave until I've succeed in defending you," Mira weakly explains to the girl, "So until you get leave, I won't leave either!"

Seeing Mira's determination, the girl is moved by her confidence and her remaining strength to save her.

_"She reminds me of someone I know. Someone like-"_

However, the moment stopped when the leader kicks Mira from behind. "Blah! Blah! Blah! I have enough anime drama already! Let's get this over with!" he says as he aims his sword on her back.

But, Mira tries to get up, despite being paralyzed from the dagger, unknowingly that her arm is still raising to the girl's +OPTIONS+ window.

"No! Stop it!" the girl pleaded.

"Sorry, girly! I'll deal with you, later! Right now, it's bye-bye, Blade Houdini girl!"

Without remorse, the leader is about to stab her with his swords, but with her remaining strength left, Mira managed to get up in time to stop his attack.

Seeing Mira escaped from his clutches, the bully avatars were about to attack her, only to her a beeping sound.

"What was that sound?"

"Probably an e-mail."

"Idiot! Can you turn off your beeping while were busy?!" the leader scolds the two.

However for Mira, she recognized that beeping sound and when she turns around, she was stunned to saw an +OPTIONS+ menu showing the words +PERSONA SHIFT SEQUENCE ACTIVATING...+ on the screen.

"PSS?! But who's-"

All of the sudden, the girl froze in shock before she can help Mira, which she notices and realizes something.

_"I have my arm raised just to try to reach the girl's shoulder and she has her +OPTIONS+ menu opened when she's trying to defend me. So if I raised my arm that long to escape, then that would mean-"_

"Drat! Mira, what did you done?!" Mira shouts as she slaps herself in realization, much to the bullies' confusion.

As the girl is still stunned, her shy expression is starting to disappear and when she snaps out of it, her face is expressionless as her bangs hides her eyes along with it.

"What just happened?" the bandana bully asks in confusion.

"No clue."

"Whatever it is, it's distracting us long enough to eliminate this so-called legend. Let's hurry this up so I can hit the arcade already," the bully leader said as he prepares his swords again. However, he stopped when he hears a threatening voice.

"DON'T YOU EVEN TOUCH HER!"

When the bullies turn around to see find who spoke up, they were shocked to see the girl, the newbie who is shy when they first saw her, now became serious all of the sudden.

"I knew it," Mira muttered.

"What's with the sudden mood swing? Want to end up like your hero back there?" the beanie-wearing bully asks in a mocking tone, only to be stabbed by a dagger wielded by the girl. Then she starts beating him up and throws him to the wall.

After that, she turns to the bandana-wearing avatar, which he pleading, "No, no, no, no! Not me! Not me!" But she ignores his pleas as she proceeds to beat him up next.

After finishing with the two bully avatars, she turns to the leader, which he was starting to panic right now as his hands are shaking in fear. However, he holds his ground and says, "What? So you want to fight me and end up like that veteran?!"

However, she ignores his offer as she easily knocks his swords away with her own bare hands, much to the leader's shock in horror.

"So, any last words before you're history?" the girl coldly asks to the scared bully avatar.

Seeing her cold eyes, the bully then replies in a sheepish tone, "Uncle?"

Without a word, she started beating up the leader without a remorse, much to Mira's shock as she notices what kind of persona did the girl have now thanks to her PSS. Without thinking anything else, Mira decided to use this shocking moment to try taking out the dagger from her back.

"No, please! Have mercy!" the bully avatar plead to the girl, "I promise to leave you alone!"

However, the girl paid no heed to his pleas as she deal a final strike to the avatar, which he fainted completely, leaving 1 HP after that.

After a paralyzing and painful process, Mira managed to get the dagger out from her back and also managed to pull out the antidote for her paralysis despite her being weakened from the dagger, which she quickly drinks the bottle of it completely, healing her not only from her paralysis, but also her injuries.

After drinking a few potions, Mira gets up after recovering and sees the defeated avatars and the girl, shocked that a level 1 newbie defeats some level 20-30 veterans so easily.

"So what do we do with them?" the girl asks to Mira in surprisingly younger voice.

Thinking for a few seconds, Mira answers, "Let's leave them in here, stunned and tied up for a few hours. At least we've teach them a lesson about harassing newbies."

Then she turns to the girl and says, "And I just want to say thanks for saving my butt, although I was supposed to be the one who save yours. But I'm really sorry, too."

"Sorry? For what?" the girl asks in confusion.

"For activating your PSS without you knowing or even asking," Mira explained, "You see, PSS or Persona Shift Sequence is a feature to alter your personality when it's activated. When you remained your +OPTIONS+ menu on, I accidentally activated it during the struggle without even knowing."

"Oh, so that explains why," the girl said.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name. I'm Mira," Mira introduced herself.

"I'm Rimiku. Nice to meet you."

As they shook their hands, Mira asks, "So Rimiku, why are you playing SRO in the first place anyway? To read virtual books to get away from your shyness?"

"Actually, I'm looking for someone," Rimiku replied.

"Someone?"

"Yeah, I want to talk to him about something. But, I forgot what it is," Rimiku explained.

"Forgot? What do you mean?" Mira asks.

"Well, I do remember what I want to ask him, but it seems I forgot after my PSS is activated."

Hearing this, Mira asks, "Can you pull out your +OPTIONS+ menu again?"

When Rimiku did, Mira notices something and says, "I knew it. You're forgot because you're PSS is in on higher setting."

"Huh?"

"You see, when the PSS is activated, you become your avatar, literally in terms of personality and memory. The lower the setting, the higher you keep your real-life self, but the higher the setting the more you become your avatar," Mira explains, "See? Your PSS settings is currently 80, so you forgot your real life self, but you can vaguely remember it."

"I see. How did you know all of this?" Rimiku asks in curiosity.

"I read all about PSS in the game guide in the internet. Anyways, I can lower the settings if you want-"

"No!"

Mira become confused at what she answers as Rimiku explains, "I know my higher settings almost suppressed my whole memories, but I never felt more alive with my new persona. And after seeing you defending me with determination, I want to do the same."

"Rimiku..."

"So, I don't care about my memories for now. I just want to be determined like you. I want to be like somebody," Rimiku pleaded.

Seeing her determined expression, Mira then says, "Okay, but don't say I warned you."

"Thanks. And don't worry about accidentally activating my PSS, I forgive you," Rimiku said.

"Thanks. And since I don't want you to suffer the same event in here earlier, how about I let you show you around and teach you more about game?" Mira asks.

"Are you sure? I mean, you're not busy with anything else, right?" Rimiku said.

Knowing about the quest she was supposed to take, she decided to hold it off to help Rimiku as Mira says, "Don't worry, I got time."

Thinking for a few seconds, Rimiku answers, "Well, okay. I need someone helping me in this game, anyway."

"Don't worry, you won't regret having me around!" Mira said as she and Rimiku leave the streets.

_"Well, at least I'm not alone again."_

* * *

_A/N: So, now it begins! How do you like my mini-sequel side story so far?_

_Well, all I can say is: it only gets better from here! Read and review to find out more._

_And Happy Upcoming New Year, everyone!_


	2. Danger Zone

_A/N: Hiya readers! Sorry for the wait! But chap. 2 is here at last. Last time, Mira faced going on a quest in SRO with out her faithful partner and boyfriend Jiraya. But she gained a new friend after rescuing a rookie avatar from bullying veterans. After helping her unlock the fighter inside of her, Rimiku offered to hang out with Mira to which she accepted.  
_

_What's next for these new BFFs. Read on to find out!_

**ToonSchool Revolution Wars SS: Rookie Quest**

**Danger Zone**

During the next few hours, Mira teach Rimiku the basics of the game as at the same, they are having fun with it, too. While teaching her how to run, Rimiku was able to learn it so quickly thanks to Mira. However, the tutorial turned into a race as the girls raced to see who can reach to the department store first. In the end, Rimiku won the race because despite Mira has high Speed stats due to her levels, she lost when she tripped on a virtual rock. Mira was okay being lost in a race, but a little embarrassed at what happened, which Rimiku laughs about it as Mira did the same.

After they went shopping inside the department store, they went into an item shop to buy some items as Mira explained to Rimiku about Kilos and the basic items really needed for the battles. As they shop, Mira decided to give her two sais with some black diamonds are embedded into the lower part of the hilt on both sides and there is a large stone that's Rimiku's favorite color is embedded into the top of the hilt on both sides, seeing that she need decent weapons for her. Rimiku is reluctant at accepting her gift at first, but decided to accept it since it's her gift and she might need it for her future battles.

As they left the department store, they stopped to discuss what they purchased.

"Well, I got a bunch of these colorful crystals, and something tells me that they are for a lot more than just jewelry," Rimiku said, taking out admiring her said purchase.

"That's because those are special +Elemental Crystals+," Mira explained. "When combined with your weapons, they enhance the weapons by giving them abilities that emulate the elements. For example, red crystals give you Fire abilities, blue gives you Water, yellow is Wind, green is Earth, black is Dark and white is Light."

"Sweet," Rimiku said as she pulled out a metallic Orb. "And what's this, it cost me a fortune."

"That's because it's a +PortalOrb+," Mira told her, "It's very rare and very valuable. You can use it to transport yourself to anywhere you want in the world of SRO. However, it will only work once. So save it for when you really need it like if you need to get somewhere really far really fast."

"Cool," Rimiku said.

"Now check this out," Mira said as she pulled out some clear, glass-lookalike chest armor with an aurora-like glow.

"Hey I know what that is," Rimiku remembered. "When I first came here I saw some avatar fighting some monsters wearing it. And he was barreling through them like they weren't even there."

"That's because this is Crystal Armour, the most powerful armor in the game. When one puts it on they are given three minutes of complete invincibility from monsters, obstacles, and other avatars."

"Awesome," Rimiku gasped. "Wow, this is by far the best time I've ever spent in this game. What's next for us?" Just then a voice rang throughout the entire city.

"Attention, the rare item quest for +Bonded Sun Amulet+ is now open. Please go to +Shine Quest Center+ for further details. I repeat. Go to +Shine Quest Center+ for the quest for +Bonded Sun Amulet+."

"That's the quest me and Jiraya were gonna do," Mira shrieks in excitement.

"Who's Jiraya?" Rimiku asked.

"My partner-in-gaming and my boyfriend. We were gonna do the quest together, but he had a school exam to study for."

"Maybe I could do it with you?"

"I dunno, this is a pretty tough quest, and while you have gotten tougher, you are still a rookie. It could be dangerous."

"Hey, you just said I was tougher right, well I want to see just how tough I am. Plus you could use a partner. So come on, what do you say?"

Mira thought to herself for a second and then said, "Hmm, okay then. But on two conditions: one, you stick with me the whole time. And two, we do training in the beginner's field first."

"No problem," Rimiku said. "What and where is this beginner's field anyways?"

Mira pulls up her map from her menu as she said, "It's a place where rookies go to harness their combat skills. Monsters spontaneously spawn in the field and the avatars fight them for as long as they can."

"Cool."

"Now let's see, the beginner's field right…" she said as she looked over the map."Right near where the quest location is!"

"Excellent, that means we can train for a while, and then cut straight to the quest, " Rimiku said with glee.

"You're right, let's go!"

* * *

At the lot which is doubles as a field for beginners, Mira and Rimiku are walking towards to the quest location as the Blade Magi is explaining to the new player about how to fight. While she's explaining, Rimiku notices something as she asks, "Well, that's all the basics of the battle. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what is this hole? A portal to the next city?" Rimiku asked as she approaches to a strange-looking hole in front of her.

Noticing the hole, Mira realizes what it is and quickly stops her from going further to the hole.

"Are you crazy? That's not a hole, it's a corrupted data."

"Corrupted data?" Rimiku asked in confusion.

"Data that was corrupted by a virus or a bug. When you touch a bug, your avatar is corrupted; destroying your item data and everything else along with it," Mira explains, "Whatever you do, don't touch it. Instead, report this to the game masters, or GMs for short."

"So there are authorities in this game," Rimiku said.

"Yeah, but if you're thinking why aren't you supposed to report them in the first place, then it's because of those jerks they've been harassing you earlier," Mira explained, "Those guys will do anything to keep your mouth shut, even PKing you in Level 1."

"Man, that's harsh," Rimiku said, "I'm lucky that you were able to save me, or at least activated my PSS."

"It's okay, I think. But I'm curious and suspicious about this road data, why it suddenly got corrupted in the first place?"

As Mira is wondering about the corrupted data, Rimiku notices something from afar and says, "Mira! I saw some strange creatures from the bushes!"

Snapping out of her trance, Mira notices the same creatures that Rimiku just saw, some slime creatures staring at the girls in curiosity.

"Oh, looks like you saw some Slimiballs. Some perfect monsters to start you out with," Mira answered, "Think you can handle them with your PSS game face on?"

Rimiku become nervous about this at first, but becomes determined as her PSS reacts again inside of her. "Okay, don't try to stop me."

She pulls out her new sais and prepares herself as she waits for the Slimipuffs to come closer to her. When they did, she quickly dashed to them and slashes them with her sais. Mira was shocked at her speed, despite being Level 1.

As the Slimipuffs try to recover from her attack, Rimiku quickly attacks one of them from behind, which it disappeared after that.

"Whoa," Mira said in awe, speechless at what she just saw.

Rimiku then gave another Slimipuff some multiple attacks and used a charged slash to defeat it. After that, she stunned the last one with her Shadow Double Attack and quickly stabs the Slimipuff to defeat it.

When all of the Slimipuffs are gone, Rimiku fell back in exhaustion as her sais disappeared in thin air, returning them back into her invisible holster. Stunned that a newbie was able to defeat the monsters like a pro, Mira not only impressed by Rimiku's battling skills, but she was awed in excitement that she was able to learn the basics really fast.

"So, how did I do, Missy?" Rimiku asks like nothing happened.

Mira was speechless to say anything after what she saw. But after a few minutes, she answers, "That was…INCREDIBLE!"

"You really think so?" Rimiku asks in shock.

"Hey, PSS or not, I haven't doubt your skills any moment," Mira said, "Hey, if you do remember who are you looking for, let's try proving him that you can complete a tough quest."

Stunned at what she said, Rimiku gives a grateful smile to her, knowing that she can help her get the rare item.

"Now come on, we have to get to our destination," Mira said, "And when you see a monster along the way, don't let it get away. You need to level some more if you want to survive this quest."

"Yes, ma'am!" Rimiku said with determination as she follows Mira when she heads to the quest location.

* * *

At the Shine Quest Center in the middle of the street, the girls arrived at the building when they saw some avatars talking to some NPCs.

"Wow, there are a lot of players in this building," Rimiku said in shock.

"Must be for the rare item quest," Mira guessed with a determined look on her face, "Some want to sell it for Kilos, some wanted to get strong equipment and items, and some wants to add it to their virtual collection. In any case, those avatars want to get that rare item so bad."

"Hey, Mira. I have to ask you something, why do you want to take this quest anyway?" Rimiku asks in curiosity.

"Simple, for the reward," Mira answered, "I'm a Rare Item Hunter, as in I hunt for rare items for an online living. Jiraya is also a Rare Item Hunter because he and I won the titles together."

"Rare Item Hunter? Those thugs back there mentioned 'stealing' your title," Rimiku said as she remembered her incident with the bully avatars.

"Yeah, it's because it's possible to steal your title by PKing. Because this title can only be obtained by a rare quest or a title tournament, any avatar with this title will be an easy target for jerks like them," Mira explained, "That's why I have to be cautious when it comes to walking around town."

"But that doesn't make any sense. You look like you played this game for fun. Why did you take that title and what's the reason on hunting rare items?" Rimiku asked in confusion.

Seeing that she can't hide her motives any longer, Mira simply smiles and replies, "Because it's fun looking for new discoveries."

Rimiku become even more confused at Mira's answer.

"You see, not only I'm doing this because Jiraya and I are working on completing the quest as a couple, but also I like finding discoveries that I never found in this game before. And since rare items are hard to find and might have something behind their releases, I decided to take the title tournament to become a Rare Item Hunter. Jiraya come along with me as my partner because not only he's worried about me, but also wanted to become one so we can hunt rare items as a couple."

"Wow," Rimiku said with awe.

"So, for me and Jiraya, finding a rare item is like finding an unknown artifact. If we can't get that rare item, then we have no new discoveries. But when Jiraya's not around, getting that rare item is meaningless without sharing it with somebody."

"Well, what about me?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, although we only met for a few hours, we do get along quickly," Rimiku explained.

"Hmm," Mira said as she thought about it. "And you've proven yourself greatly in battle. And as my mom says nothing makes a great accomplishment even greater than by sharing it with friends. Especially a new friend."

"So are you saying…?"

"Yep. Let's do it. Together."

"Alright. But where do we start?"

"How about at that help counter over there?"

At the counter, the girls approached a clerk NPC when windows popped out in front of them.

"What the?! What's this?" Rimiku asked.

"This window shows some questions you need to ask to any NPC. Ask the required question written here and she will answer. Ask other questions not listed here, she will not say anything," Mira explains, "That's how an NPC dialogue works in this game."

"Oh, well okay," Rimiku said, "I understand, I think..."

Then, Mira reads one of the questions in the window as the clerk asks, "Hello? How can I help you?"

"Hi! We heard about the chaos happening near Inceptum and Amicus," Mira said while reading the window.

"Oh, you must be one of them! The police already notify me about the situation around here," the clerk explained, "Ever since that United Tower has been taken over by creatures corrupted by the unstable energies of the Data Aura, some of the people around here are getting restless and wants somebody to take out those creatures. Plus, I also heard that a pendant infused with Data Aura has been found within the top floor of that area."

"Pendant? What pendant?" Rimiku asks in confusion, ignoring the questions from the invisible window.

"The rare item, which is the reward for the quest," Mira whispered to Rimiku, "And BTW, try to stick with the lines in front of you."

"Oh, sorry," she sheepishly said as she blushes.

She then turns to the clerk and asks, "What kind of creatures found inside that tower?"

"Well mainly +Trickster Goblins+, +Rage Mech+, and +Rapid Rex+."

"Well how strong are these monsters?"

"The +Trickster Goblins+ are the easiest to beat, and the +Rapid Rex+ may take some effort. But the ones you really need to watch out for are the +Rage Mech+. They are especially dangerous in groups."

"Well we can handle them, right Mira?"

"That's correct," Mira replied. "How will we know when we're close to the pendant?"

The clerk then handed the two a small disk-like projector.

"This is the holo-GPS for the tower. It'll show you all the different paths inside," he said.

"Well, sound like we got a lot to deal with," Mira said.

"Yeah but if we stick together, we can do anything," Rimiku reminded her.

"You got that right. So if you ready, and I'm ready, let's go."

The two girls then entered the quest area. Unknown to them, an avatar is watching other avatars accepting the new quest.

"Laugh at me right now, everybody. But soon, I'll be the one who will be laughing," the avatar whispers, "Because this time, I will get my reward and my _revenge_."

He left the building with an evil smirk hiding in his collar.

* * *

At the entrance of the tower, the avatars are getting anxious to enter the new dungeon to get the rare item. As everyone prepares themselves, a voice rang throughout the entrance.

"Thank you for waiting. The doors to the +United Tower+ are open! To the avatars who accepted the +Liberate the Tower of Unity+ quest, please enter. To the avatars who didn't accept it, please quickly accept it at the +Shine Quest Center+. The doors will close in just about 30 minutes."

As the announcement voice continues to give instructions to the players, Rimiku asks to Mira, "Think that's our cue to get in?"

"Yup! But we better hurry, the announcement said the doors will close if we don't enter in 30 minutes," Mira says, "Even if we cancel and retake the quest if we can't enter in time, the doors won't open in the next 2 hours."

"2 hours?!"

"It's to prevent server crashes during the gameplay. If the player count in that dungeon is full, nobody get in until the avatars have completed or defeated in that dungeon," Mira explained, "I would want to explain more about this, but we have to get in before it's too late!"

Realizing she's right, Rimiku waste no time and follows Mira into the tower as everyone is trying to enter. As the other avatars pushed their way into the entrance, the same avatar from the Shine Quest Center pulls out some kind of remote-like device and activates it, creating some kind of red pulse around it as the avatars noticed his device in his hand. Realizing what kind of device it is, some of the avatars try to pull out a window, but it's too late as they were engulfed by a red aura from the device.

* * *

Inside the tower, the avatars are working their way up to the tower, with one goal on their mind: to conquer the dungeon and claim it's rare reward. But some of the avatars are defeated and disappeared after being killed by monsters while some are either injured or abandoned by their party members, who only wanted the reward.

At the 6th floor of the tower, Mira and Rimiku are passing through the hallways of the tower as they defeat some monsters on the way. As Rimiku passed her way through the monsters, a +Rapid Rex+ quickly tries to ambush her, but it was suddenly floated up in mid-air as Mira hold up her sword and recites, _"Rumpere ignis suna parma clamos!"_

As she finishes the incantation, the Rapid Rex quickly explode in flames as Rimiku use this chance to defeat the last batch of monsters in their way. After all the monsters are defeated, the girls head straight to the stairs to the next floor without distractions, knowing that those monsters will be reappearing in any second now.

When they reached into the 7th floor, the girls are panting heavily, tired from their last battle downstairs.

"Wow, who knew fighting can be tiring," Rimiku said in exhaustion.

"Yeah, but open up your +STATUS+ window," Mira said.

She did what she said and when Rimiku saw her current status on the window, she was surprised as Mira says, "You were able to level up to 25 and gained new skills."

"Cool! I can't wait to see it!" Rimiku said in excitement.

"Well, you better hurry on checking your new skills because if those monsters ambush us, I'll never forgive myself for ignoring my party member," Mira said as Rimiku checks on her +SKILLS+ window next. But when she saw some sort of broken data on the ground, she was quickly shocked and stopped Rimiku on her tracks.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Rimiku asks in confusion.

"Corrupted data."

Rimiku was also shocked at not only there's one corrupted data on the floor, but there are several more at the walls and ceilings.

"WHA?! I never seen so many corrupted data before. Should we report this to the GM, too?" Rimiku asked.

But when they heard a scream not far from where they standing, Mira quickly replies in a sudden serious tone, "I don't think reporting isn't an option anymore."

All of the sudden, she bolted to the source of the scream.

Confused about her friend's behavior when she saw the corrupted part of the hallways and heard the scream, Rimiku chased her in worry while avoiding the corrupted data along the way.

When she finally catch up to Mira, she asks, "Mira, what's with you all of the sudden? You can't just abandon-"

She quickly stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Mira's shocked face and she notices what she's staring at, Rimiku also became shocked and horrified at what she saw.

Avatars all over were covered in the corrupted data, which looked like it was eating them up, and lying on the ground.

Rimiku was speechless at what she saw as Mira stared at the bugged avatars in horror.

"M-Mira, this is just a game, r-right?" Rimiku asked in shock.

"It is just a game," Mira said grimly, "But someone or something doesn't want to treat it as a game any longer."

"What do you mean?" Rimiku asked in confusion.

"When I saw the corrupted data back at the streets, I was suspicious on what kind of bug did this. But after seeing this, I knew it wasn't a bug."

"Then what do we do? Back out and call GM?"

"No, like I said, calling a GM isn't an option anymore. If we want to protect anyone, we might not let them get involved," Mira explained to Rimiku, but she was still confused at this situation. "Rimiku, do you know about IG3?"

"Uh, no. I didn't read the manual before playing," Rimiku answered.

"IG3 means Immersive Gateway 3D. It's a hypnosis program in SRO that will increase the player's experience inside the game like some virtual reality programs like you saw on TV and PSS is its feature. If those data completely corrupts the player's avatar or if the data gets to them before they log off, it will damage their minds and caused serious mental and physical problems in the real world."

"Seriously?!" Rimiku said in shock.

"Yup. Destroying the game with these corrupted data is one thing, but if we don't save these avatars in time, their lives will be in danger, online or offline!" Mira added.

"So, you were saying that we should climb the tower higher to find its source?"

"That's the plan. If we don't, it will be the end of SRO and the players within it."

Rimiku then thinks about this situation and then says, "You know, although I can't remember my real-life memories because of my PSS, but I vaguely remembered that the one who am I looking for is very determined and never give up on his goals. But not only that, I vaguely remembered that when I was in danger, he never turned on me and tries to save me, even at the toughest times. I wanted to back out of this, but remembering those vague memories and you saving me from those avatars the first time we met gave me second thoughts."

Mira was moved by her words as Rimiku continues, "But if that means risking our lives for this, I won't turn on anyone who needs our help."

"So that means you want to find this creep who is messing the game?" Mira asks.

"Yes," Rimiku answered with determination, "Whoever's hurting these avatars, I won't forgive him!"

"Now you're speaking my language!" Mira said, "Now then, I might able to identify some of our culprit's identity."

Mira then inspect the corrupted walls for clues when she saw a large portable hi-tech generator-like device connected to the walls. It was generating the corrupted data all over the walls. Mira picked up one of the fallen avatars' weapons and through it at the wall. It flew right through and landed on the other side with a loud clatter.

"What the-?!" Mira said as she looked at it. Rimiku stood beside

"What is this?" she asked.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say this is the cause of all this corrupted data," Mira said. She then raised her blade and slashed it, destroying it. "That thing must have been altering the tower's game encoding so that one could pass through to the other side of it with no problems. It seems that somebody really wants that pendent…and more. It's just as I thought, we're dealing with something worse than a bug."

"What?! Like what?"

"We have to be dealing with…A HACKER!"

"A hacker?" Rimiku wondered.

"Hackers are people who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer or computer network. In this case in SRO, they hack and cheat or alter the game to make the game easier to them. But the more they hack, the more this game has problems. Plus, the game's motive is to make this into a challenge and prevents scams and stuff, so they also treat hackers as criminals in here, too."

"Then why does this hacker wants that pendant so bad?"

"To sell it off to make big bucks, I guess," Mira guessed, "But I have a feeling there is much more than getting that rare item."

"In that case, looks like we better get to the top floor of the tower and get that reward before that hacker gets to it first," Rimiku suggested.

"That's what I was thinking. Plus, we need to capture him to the authorities before he hurts more players," Mira added.

"Speaking of which, what about these players?" Rimiku asks, "We can't leave them like this."

"You're right. I'll contact someone to-"

Before she can even pull out one window, they suddenly hear a strange screeching, which they quickly cover their ears in pain.

"Wha- What's that horrible screeching?!" Rimiku asks in pain.

Before Mira can guess, red pulse starts to cover the whole floor as the girls stood there in shock.

"I-Is that part of the game?" Rimiku asks in fear.

"It's not. And something tells me..."

The red pulse suddenly get bigger as the girls are still stunned at what they saw.

"We're not going to survive to that thing!"

The girls screamed as the pulse gets bigger and bigger.

_A/N: __Oh boy. This cannot be good! Will the girls escape the red pulse before it swallows them up? And who is the mystery hacker who wants to get his slimy claws on the pendant?_

_Find out this and more in the in the climatic conclusion of Rookie Quest!_

_But, remember, if you want the final chapter really soon, you know what you need to do, readers: Read and review!_


	3. Psychological Cyber Warfare

_A/N: This is it! The final chapter and climax of the story! Last time, the girls unfortunately got caught by a strange red of pulse that is somehow corrupting the data around it. Can the girls get out of this one and find the culprit? See the climax of the side story of RW in Chapter 3!_

**ToonSchool Revolution Wars SS: Rookie Quest**

**Psychological Cyber Warfare**

As the pulse getting bigger, the girls brace themselves for the worst until Rimiku got an idea to avoid it.

"Follow my lead!" Rimiku said as she uses her camoflouge on Mira and herself in order to avoid the pulse.

Now realizing what she was doing, Mira raised her wand and shouts out, _"Dnelb Ni!"_

Shouting out her spell, they fully disappeared as the pulse passed through them, not noticing their presence and continues to corrupt the floor around it.

When the pulse is gone, Mira and Rimiku reappeared as the latter dispels her skill on both of them.

"You okay?" Mira asked.

"Yeah, are you?" Rimiku replied.

"I'm fine, though I can't say the same for this tower," Mira answered as she looked at all the damage and corruption the pulse had caused to the tower.

"My God, whoever this hacker is, he's dead serious about getting that amulet."

"And doing who knows what else, which is why we need to get to the top ASAP."

"But how do we do it without his alteration corrupting us?"

The girls both thought hard for a while. Suddenly Mira remembered some thing.

"I've got it," she said as she rummaged around in her backpack. She pulled out two grapping hook guns.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked. Rimiku smiled.

"Yes, I think I am thinking what you're thinking," she said slyly.

* * *

The two girls used their grappling guns to hoist their way to the other floors via the holes left after the virus ate through the tower, fighting corrupted avatars and disabling the small generators causing the virus. Finally, after nine floors, they reached the top chamber.

"Well, finally we've reached the top," Mira said.

"Good, now let's get that amulet and get out of here," Rimiku pleaded. Mira moved and opened the door to the final room. However, upon glancing inside the two saw a dark-looking avatar wearing a techno-looking standing with the amulet in hand. The avatar quickly turned and saw them.

"What? How did you get past my virus generators?!" he shouted.

"Excuse me, your virus generators?" Mira asked with suspicion.

"So you're the hacker causing all of the corruption here," Rimiku gasped in realization.

"Indeed," the avatar said in a sinister voice. "Name's Reiki and soon I will rule this world with an iron fist. And you two meddling chicks can't stop me."

At that moment, Reiki pulled out two blasters and blew out a hole in the wall. He then jumped out and started to fall. As the girls ran over to the hole and, the evil avatar pressed a button on his backpack strap, causing the back end to spit flames. He then zoomed off into the distance.

"He's getting away," Rimiku shouted.

"Not for long," Mira said as she pulled out a disc from her bag. She pressed a button and the disc quickly converted into a hoverboard, which she hopped on.

"Come on," she said as she pulled Rimiku on board. "Now hold on tight."

Rimiku wrapped her hands around Mira's waist and the two took off after Reiki. The evil hacker was zooming above the city, proud that his mission had been accomplished.

"Hey you, hold it!" a voice shouted. Reiki looked behind him and saw both girls flying to catch up.

"So they're up for the chase, eh?" he said with a sly grin. "Well, I'll give them a chase!"

At that moment, he zoomed down into Inceptum, with the girls following him. The three zoomed through the streets of the city at high speed, forcing many of the avatars to run or dive out of the way, and causing a few to get hit and knocked down. Reiki then zoomed into a nearby clothing store, and Mira, seeing no other option, zoomed in after him.

"Hang on Rimiku, we're going in," she shouted. The three zoomed through the store, avoiding shoppers and getting entangled in all the clothes. After ten minutes they finally zoomed out the back exit, covered in clothing. As they all untangled themselves from the clothes, Rimiku quipped, "Talk about a 10-minute sale."

"Very funny," Mira said with a smile. Reiki on the other hand was getting really annoyed. These girls were just not gonna let up until they caught him. So there was only on thing left to do: catch them. Reiki pulled out a red ball from his pocket, and then turned over on his stomach as he flew. He then threw the ball at the girls and called out, "Hey ladies, catch!"

Mira and Rimiku looked and saw the ball coming at them. Before either could react, the ball exploded and a net shot out and caught them. The two struggled to get out of it as they started to go down. The evil avatar then grabbed a rope connected to the net, stopping their fall.

"How about we take a ride, girls," Rimiku said sinisterly as he dragged the two along with him. He flew with them to the outskirts of the city, to a place with a futuristic crane next a pit filled with the same corrupting data that had ruined the tower. Reiki then hung the net on a hook over the pit, then reached inside the net and confiscated their weapons and item bags. He quickly and landed next to the nearby crane.

"So, I've got some meddlers in my midst," he said as he threw the girls' items aside. "Who are you and why are you meddling in my plans?"

"Mira, level 49, Blade Magi and Rare Item Hunter," Mira coldy told him.

"I'm Rimiku, rookie player, Rogue and future Quest Hunter," Rimiku told him in the same tone.

"It figures. No wonder you pursued me," Reiki growled. "It's people like you that make me want to puke, always thinking you're so big just because you can get through all those quests, and beat all those stupid monsters, and win all those dumb tournaments, to get items, equipment, experience and kilos."

"Oh, I see," Mira said. "So you're just a jealous little punk who probably failed in all of his attempts in those and has decided to hack the game in order win items and stuff more easy."

"Very smart, sweet thing," Rimiku smiled.

"But do you have any idea what you're doing to the game itself and the other avatars who play it with your hacking and those corruption generators?" Rimiku asked.

"Oh yeah, about that…DON'T CARE!" he replied with a cackle.

"So you don't care that you ruining and not only endangering people's lives too?" Mira snapped furiously.

"Pretty much, and you'll be a part of the new general population after you take a little dip in the pit," he said as he climbed up on the crane and started it up.

"Um, Mira, what happens if we coming in contact with that much corruption?" Rimiku asked in fear

"Very, very bad," Mira replied with fear. Reiki then pulled a lever which caused the crane to lower the net with the girls into the pit

"Well I'm off to cause more chaos. Have a nice swim, babes," he cackles as he started up his jetpack and blasted off.

"Oh man," Rimiku panicked. "What do we do? He took all our weapon and items and they're all the way over there out of reach."

"Relax," Mira assured her friend as she reached into her shoe and pulled out a small knife. "A good MMORPG player is always prepared."

Rimiku smiled at her friend's resourcefulness. "Great! But how do we get back to land without falling into that?"

"Just trust me and hold onto my waist."

Rimiku nodded and did just that, and as soon as Mira finished cutting an opening in the net, she grabbed the hook that was holding and lowering the net and with Rimiku holding on, she started to swing back and forth. With each swing forward she got closer and closer, until finally she jump and managed to grab a hold of the edge of the pit just as the crane lowered the net into the virus-filled pit. Rimiku then climbed over Mira to the land and pulled her up. They both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"That was too close," Mira said as she and Rimiku started gathering up their weapons and items.

"I know," Rimiku replied. "Gosh, Mira I am so glad I met you. You are by far the most interesting, surprise-filled person I've ever met."

"Thanks," Mira said as Rimiku suddenly gave her a hug, which she returned. After a minute Mira broke the hug and said. "Now whadda say we go get that creep?"

"I say lead the way, partner," Rimiku said.

* * *

At the shopping district of Inceptum, Reiki is walking around the street with the rare pendant in his hands with an evil grin on his face.

"So, what am I going to do with you my pretty? Sell you to make more Kilos, equip you and show those avatars at the PVP tournaments that I rule?"

"Or better yet, drop it!"

Reiki was shocked at that familiar voice as he turns around to see Mira and Rimiku with their weapons in their hands.

"You, how did you escape from my pit?!" he asks in shock.

"Secret! And of course, I suggest you give up the pendant. You don't deserve that rare item," Mira said in a serious tone.

"What?! I got it first at the new tower! I'm supposed to deserve this grand prize!" Reiki said in anger.

"By cheating and hacking? Fat chance! A true SRO player never cheats, they need to fight through the obstacles around them to earn rare items and such and you're actions proves that you're not a true player," Rimiku added in a serious tone.

"Well, if you want it, come and get it!" Reiki said as he pulls out his remote and a metallic orb from his inventory. "Activate +PortalOrb+! Take me to +United Tower+!"

The orb then creates a portal behind him as Reiki enters it quickly. The girls try to chase him to the portal, but it quickly disappears before they can reach it.

"He's going back to the tower!" Mira said.

"He's not going to escape so easily!" Rimiku said with confidence as she pulls out the same orb from before. "This better worth it! Activate +PortalOrb+! Take me and Mira to +United Tower+!"

The orb then creates another portal as the girls entered it quickly before it disappears again.

* * *

The girls stepped out of the portal and looked around. They were back in the top room of the tower, but Reiki was nowhere to be seen.

"Now where did that little punk go?" Mira asked.

"Try up here," a voice from above said. The girls looked up as Reiki jumped down and kicked them both towards an opening in the wall. Rimiku managed to hit the solid wall, while Mira tripped out of the open and started to fall. Luckily she managed to grab ahold of a ledge and hang on.

"Rimiku!" Mira cried out. Rimiku ran to the opening and looked down to see Mira dangling from the tower.

"Mira, hang on," Rimiku said as she tried to reach her. However she was pulled and thrown away from the opening by Reiki.

"You wanna save her, you have to fight me," Reiki cackled as he took out his blasters. "Not that a rookie like you could defeat me."

"We'll see about that," Rimiku said as she drew her sais. She then rushed into attack Reiki, who parried her attacks with his blasters. Reiki eventually pushed her back and blasted at her. Using her speed as a Rogue, Rimiku avoided the blasts and eventually slashed at Reiki with her sais again. But then, Reiki took out a dagger with a blade coated with the virus and suddenly stabbed Rimiku with it. Stunned by this, Rimiku stumbled back and collapsed to the as she could feel the virus's infection coursing through her.

"It feels cold and painful, doesn't it," Reiki cackled evily. "Soon it'll consume you and you'll be nothing more than a dried up husk lying here on the ground. And to think a rookie like you thought you could beat me. Players like you are nothing but a joke, while players like me are the future."

Rimiku weakly laughed at the last part of Reiki's monologue, confusing him, "You are not a player, nor the future. You're just…a pathetic, cheating jerkoff."

She then took out a red crystal and a black crystal from her bag, and combined them with her sais. "Now get ready to see what a true player can do."

Rimiku then jumped up and kicked Reiki in the chest, sending him flying back. She then unleashed a flurry of speedy attacks with her sais, which, now powered by the Fire and Darkness crystals, caused a lot more damage than before. Rimiku then slashed Reiki's blasters destroying them. Enraged, Reiki swiped at her with his infected dagger again, but this time, Rimiku parried the attack with one sai and then used the other to slice Reiki's hand with the dagger off. As he screamed in pain, she then kicked him in the face, sending him flying into the wall where he slumped down unconscious.

Rimiku, though still getting weaker from the infection, rushed back to the opening to see that Mira as still dangling from the tower.

"Rimiku, I can't believe you just did that," Mira said in shock as her new friend pulled her out of the opening.

"Well, that's what friends are for," Rimiku said until she quickly cringes, almost succumbing to her virus wound. "I doubt there's a cure for computer viruses on MMORPG avatars, huh?"

"Don't worry, the higher-ups should heal you avatar before you know it. And thanks, without you, we will never able to stop Reiki."

"Don't be sure of that, sweetie!"

The girls turned to se Reiki recovered a little as his uninjured hand picks up his dagger from his other hand.

"I'm not letting you two win so EASILY!"

He tries to attack the girls, but they dodge his attack at lightning speed. He then tried to slash at Rimiku but she kicked him away sending him face-forward into the wall. As that happened, a look of pain and horror washed over his face. He then turned around to face the girls, who saw his infected dagger was now sticking out of his chest.

"Well that's karma for you," Mira said with a small smile.

"Curse you both to hell," Reiki weakly said before stumbling back toward the opening and falling out to his apparent doom. Rimiku then picked up his severed hand and tossed it out after him.

"Good riddance," she said.

"Don't worry, the higher-ups with fix him up after he's revived, and after if he's recovered in the real world, I'll report him to the authorities for his cyber crimes in here," Mira explained.

"Finally," Rimiku said before fainting to the ground, which Mira catches her in time.

"It's official, I better call the GM's to get their butts over pronto. I think you had enough risky adventures for your first day in here."

"Don't worry, I'll manage. Now let's get out of here."

"Okay, but before that..."

Mira then picks up the rare item that Reiki dropped earlier during the fight.

"I think the true owners of the Bonded Sun Amulet are us, the true players of SRO," Mira declared.

"Agree," Rimiku weakly says when she notices something about the amulet. "Hey, Mira. There's something wrong with that item."

"Huh?" She takes a closer look at it until it suddenly snaps in half, much to Mira's shock. "Oh no, I broke it!"

But when she notices that the amulet didn't disappeared after she "broke" it, she became suspiscious about it. "Huh? How it didn't dis-"

Suddenly, a window popped up in front of Mira as it says:

**+Bonded Sun Amulet+**

_A special amulet created by friendships and bonds. When snapped in half and gives it to a trusted friend, it can increase both of the wearers' Strength and Magic, creating a unbreakable bond made of trust._

"'A special amulet created by friendships and bonds'? Wow, talk about an ironic twist," Mira said.

"Yeah, judging at what Reiki's been through, he didn't made any friends and instead uses hacking ways to achieve his goals," Rimiku guessed.

"And ever since we meet, the longer we hang out and fight together, our bonds became unbreakable in our time of danger," Mira added. "Looks like Reiki learns the hard way that true friendships and bonds are the key to achieve anything."

"You said it."

* * *

After Rimiku's avatar is repaired and Reiki is in custody, she and Mira managed to complete the special quest in time. At first, their reward is actually the amulet itself. But they later learn that their true reward is their friendship.

After they got out of the Shine Quest Center, it's almost nighttime and the girls knew it's time to go.

"Whoa it's pretty late here, I best get going," Mira said.

"Me too. My mom worries if I play video games for too long," Rimiku agreed. The two girls paused as they started to realize their adventure was now over and they were going their separate ways now. "So I guess this is goodbye."

"Hey, don't feel bad, Rimiku! Look, let's add each other as friends so we can stay in touch," Mira suggested. "And besides, I'm going to add you as my starred friend, my new best friend and my new partner!"

"Wha?! But I thought you have to team up with Jiraya again tomorrow!" Rimiku said in shock.

"Judging by his busy schedule including his English test, I doubt he has time for me tomorrow."

"Mira..." Rimiku was loss in words that Mira wanted to hang out with her tomorrow.

"After all what you done for me despite being a rookie, I'll give you props," Mira explained. "In fact, you might be one step away to become a Rare Item Hunter like me!"

"Really?"

"Yep. And you know, maybe I can introduce Jiraya someday. I can't wait to tell him about you, and I'll bet he'd love to meet you."

"And I'd love to meet him too. Well, I best get going. See ya later, Mira."

"Bye Rimiku," Mira said as both girls opened their menus and logged out.

_"And that's about it. That newbie I defended became my new friend and partner. Ironic, isn't it?"_

* * *

It then cuts back to Mira's virtual bedroom from the beginning as she was typing some finishing paragraphs on her journal.

_"But still, that Rimiku is something. She and I stayed in touch and we've met up many times afterwards and gone on quests together when Jiraya wasn't available. I even introduced her to him later on. The two of them really hit it off, and she now occasionally drops by to hang with us. Sometimes, though, I wonder what she's like here in the real world."_

Mira finished her journal entry, shut down her computer, then opened her menu and logged out of the game.

* * *

At somebody's house in the real world, a shadowed figure is turning off the computer as it went off to bed.

_"But whoever Rimiku is in real life..."_

But when it forget something and went back to it's desk, a picture of Rimiku and Mira is on it's cellphone as it picks it up, which the desk lamp reveals the figure to be...

_"I will still believe that we'll always be friends forever."_

Charity Azkael as smiles at the screenshot, happy that she not only found someone to be her guide, but as her best friend online, too, as she turns off the lamp in relief.

_A/N: Huh? Who knew Tony's crush turned out to be Mira's new partner and friend? Anyways, thanks for sticking by in RQ and hope you guys read Revolution Wars as well. Review and thanks for reading Rookie Quest!_


End file.
